Freeholders to Consider Authorizing $20 Million in New Bonds as Part of a Loan to Purchase Waterfront Land in Sayreville

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Freeholders to Consider Authorizing $20 Million in New Bonds as Part of a Loan to Purchase Waterfront Land in Sayreville

Money would be used to condemn, redevelop National Lead site

May 4, 2004 -- The Middlesex County Board of Chosen Freeholders tonight will consider a bond ordinance to authorize an additional $20 million in new bonds to purchase and reclaim for redevelopment approximately 400 acres along Sayreville’s waterfront.

If approved, the funds would help the borough condemn and redevelop the parcel owned by National Lead. The brownfields site, which will need extensive environmental cleanup, has been at the center of a court battle between National Lead and the borough for a number of years.

“The redevelopment of this land is crucial to Sayreville’s economy and to the county’s taxpayers given the ratables it would produce,” said Freeholder Director David B. Crabiel. “We are prepared to help the borough move this condemnation along to ensure proper cleanup and to return the land to public use.”

“I strongly applaud the action planned by the county Freeholders,” said Sayreville Mayor Kennedy O’Brien. “In my view, the National Lead site, once cleaned up, represents the key to the future for Sayreville.

“This loan will help us take a giant step to the goal of reclaiming an extremely valuable site for beneficial use,” O’Brien said. “The taxpayers of Sayreville and of the entire county will benefit in all future years. This planned county action demonstrates the value of cooperative action between local and county government.”

The land previously had been appraised at $32,075,000. Engineering and environmental consulting firms hired by the Sayreville Economic Redevelopment Agency (SERA) previously determined that about $28 million in cleanup costs must be performed on the site.

In December 2000, the Freeholders passed an ordinance to provide SERA $19 million to purchase the parcel and pay for the appraised value minus appropriate remediation costs and associated legal and technical costs. National Lead, which ceased operations in 1982, began remediation activities in 1988 under state Department of Environmental Protection supervision that remain in the investigatory stage. Although National Lead has performed some cleanup, no substantial cleanup has been accomplished.

A 2003 ruling by state Superior Court Judge Robert A. Longhi, sitting in New Brunswick, however, held that SERA would have to deposit the full appraised value of the land in court as if it had been cleaned up in order to take title to the property.

“Judge Longhi’s decision effectively put a much larger tax burden on the residents of Sayreville and of Middlesex County at large,” Director Crabiel said.

The ordinance to be considered Thursday at the Freeholders Public Meeting would amend the original 2000 ordinance to add the $20 million necessary to fund the full appraised value without an offset for remediation, plus other technical and legal costs. In the condemnation proceeding, SERA will move to hold the estimated environmental costs in escrow.

The additional funds, to be voted on at the Freeholders’ May 20 meeting, would be loaned to SERA for them to take steps to acquire title to the land and remediate same.

Meanwhile, SERA will ask the court to lift a stay on the Eminent Domain action.

It is expected that the county, SERA and the Middlesex County Improvement Authority would enter into a loan agreement, holding that SERA would have one year from the time it takes ownership of the land to repay the county.

In that time, SERA also must complete the condemnation proceedings, and name a developer to begin the redevelopment process.

“The monies owed to us should be paid by the developer or developers,” Crabiel said. “The MCIA, on behalf of the county, would assist SERA in selecting a developer as well as advise on other technical and legal aspects to swiftly move this project forward.”

The agreement also would provide the county with a mortgage and the ability to take ownership of the land after the one-year period if it is determined that sufficient progress has not been made by SERA. At that time, the MCIA would assist the county in moving the redevelopment process along expeditiously.

“The county reserves the right to take the property and, with the MCIA, assume the redevelopment process if SERA does not expeditiously complete the redevelopment process,” Crabiel said. “This will ensure the timely redevelopment of the site.”

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